Tag Archive: Jason Bourne

Well it might actually happen. At first the concept of a new Bourne film without Matt Damon made me roll my eyes. I’ve come completely around on this one after seeing the trailers. The movie looks really good. Now as rumors are starting to come out that this film will open the door that Bourne wasn’t the only super bad ass on the block the idea that maybe Renner and Damon could team up in a future film seems very possible. I frankly think this is a great idea. Why Damon wanted to stop doing Bourne was because he wanted to try other things. Maybe in a year or so he’d be down to do another movie. I also really like the idea of them doing something like The Avengers where each hero has their own movie but then can come together for an all out action film. If the Bourne films could do this for the spy/action category I think it would be really something to see.

The movie is set in the early seventies, we follow the “Circus” division of MI6, when an agent remerges after what many believed was his defection, he has information claiming that a leading member of the Circus is a mole for the Soviet Union. George Smiley(Gary Oldman) an older agent that was pushed from the Circus after a botched mission, returns to find the mole. His old boss knew a Soviet spy was in the group and gave them each code names: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier and Spy.

This isn’t a spy movie that most audiences are used to, with Bond and Bourne leaping around and shooting people to the ground. This film is a very solid Cold War film. This movie is about information and weeding a mole out with real spy tactics. No jumping off roofs or giant explosions. Even though this film doesn’t have any of that, the tension is very high. Many should see this film just because I think people are starting to forget about the spy games against the Soviet Union.

This film was based off the book written by John Le Carre, it was adapted for the BBC and the character of George Smiley was played by the amazing Alec Guinness. So Gary Oldman had big shoes to fill and he really does a great job. The performance is a quiet one, Smiley is the anti-Bond/Bourne, he is older and not really charismatic. His marriage is falling apart as his wife has an affair with one of the men he is investigating. What is great about Oldman is that no matter what happens his character never really raises his voice.

The film is very adult, the pace is slow, that doesn’t mean it’s bad at all. The film feels very real, MI6 isn’t some glorious place, it’s a government building. Every moment of tension feels real. The film bounces between the mission and a flash back to a X-mas party before it was known about a mole in the group.

Now Oldman is great but other actors give very splendid performances. Mark Strong and Colin Firth deliver stand out performances. Tom Hardy plays Ricki Tarr the agent that connects a lot of the story. It’s crazy to think of the roles this man has been in this last year, you almost forget it’s him while watching the movie.

If you enjoy stories about the Cold War or simply enjoy well paced films you’ll enjoy yourself. If you’re expecting a shoot out type film or an action film with a high body count, you’ll be let down. For me the movie was a breath of fresh air. The performances alone are worth the ticket price.

Jeremy Renner needs to thank Ben Affleck on a daily basis. Don’t get me wrong, I love Renner, I’ll never forget his role in the Academy Award winning Best Picture The Hurt Locker. The role I will really never forget though is his villain role in the film SWAT. I remember watching that movie and seeing him and saying: “What a bad ass”.

After his role in The Town, his career has exploded. He is lined up to play Hawkeye for Marvel Studios. He is lined up to be Tom Cruises replacement in the Mission Impossible series and now he’s the new Jason Bourne in the film The Bourne Legacy. Now I don’t think he is playing the same Bourne that Matt Damon played. I believe they are planning on basically making the name Jason Bourne be like the 00 system in the Bond films. That it’s only a name that is used as a cover. Will see if audiences buy this or not but Renner is lying up to be the major action star of this generation. I believe this is a good thing, he’s very talented and unlike other actors being pushed on us as action stars(Looking at you Taylor Lautner). So bring it on I’m ready for this new take on Bourne especially with director Tony Gilroy behind the camera.

The Jason Bourne films exploded into a serious spy franchise. Matt Damon rocked the character, but once Bourne Ultimatum finished Damon was basically done with the character. This has not stopped the studio to continue the franchise. So the Bourne Legacy is going into production without Damon, rumor is that the name Bourne is given to several agents. This is a good idea, kind of a James Bond rip off where all agents are given numbers but oh well.

Now it seems Jeremy Renner is in the lead to win the role over a long list of dudes. He is a great actor, I remember seeing him years ago as the villain in SWAT and I liked him. He has shown his chops though in film like The Hurt Locker and The Town. He also is one guy I can actually see as an action hero. One problem I can see though is Renner is attached to a number of action franchises. He is Hawkeye in The Avengers film. He also is set to replace Tom Cruise in the Mission Impossible franchise. So his plate will be pretty full if you add Bourne on to that. Tony Gilroy is directing the film and has made statements that this film isn’t a reboot or prequel. So I’m sticking with the “Bourne” title being given to multiple agents. Will see if it works or not, audiences might be too attached to Matt Damon to see anyone else playing a character named Bourne, but hey James Bond has changed actors over the decades so why not Bourne?

Do you know who Kellan Lutz is? Neither do I, just kidding I know who he is but I just don’t really care for his acting very much. He has a smaller role in the Twilight films, I guess though Lutz has put his name in to replace Matt Damon as Bourne. Not sure how to take this news, would much rather have Damon return for a final installment where he beats a bunch of terrorist ass. Instead it looks like they want to go younger and of course do a prequel for Bourne. I have a couple problems with this, Bourne is cool because he’s on the run. What would we see in a prequel? We know what Bourne did before Identity. He would go on missions, mostly dirty evil missions and kill people. A movie just about that would pretty much suck. So why even go down that road? Also Kellan Lutz, no offense to him but he’s a nobody. Remember the bill boards that read “Matt Damon is Jason Bourne in The Bourne Ultimatum”. Don’t really see people lining up for “Kellan Lutz is Jason Bourne is the Bourne Redundancy”. If they were smart they would just toss $80 million or some crazy number at Damon. Or do what WB did to keep Christopher Nolan around. Make a deal where Damon can green light any project he wants if he returns for Bourne. I personally think that works for everyone since Damon is pretty solid when it comes to producing and writing. So work on getting Damon back, hiring some young dude to play Bourne just won’t work. No one cares about Bourne before Identity it’s a story we’ve seen several times.

I revisited the Bourne films recently and found myself surprised how well repetitive they are. It’s Matt Damon fighting the CIA super agents and desk jockies for basically three films. The second film does have a bad ass Russian agent who hangs out in red lighted clubs at noon. Still the action was solid and the films proved that not only James Bond can make spy movies financially huge. Now with the news that Tony Gilroy(Michael Clayton) will write and direct Bourne 4! Problem is that Matt Damon has stated before that if Greengrass(Directed Supremacy and Ultimatum) was not involved he would not return to play Bourne. Now Gilroy could very inspiring since he kicks ass. So will see, if they recast Bourne it will be interesting to see if audiences will accept this like they did with dealing with different Bonds. Anyway Gilroy is a fantastic choice.